Trader Joe's is getting a bad wrap for its plastic packaging

Trader Joe's Persian cucumbers are sold in plastic clam shells. Those who are interested in reducing plastic waste, should avoid buying these and find a source of cucumbers sold by the unit.

Trader Joe's Persian cucumbers are sold in plastic clam shells. Those who are interested in reducing plastic waste, should avoid buying these and find a source of cucumbers sold by the unit.

Photo: Trader Joe's

Photo: Trader Joe's

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Trader Joe's Persian cucumbers are sold in plastic clam shells. Those who are interested in reducing plastic waste, should avoid buying these and find a source of cucumbers sold by the unit.

Trader Joe's Persian cucumbers are sold in plastic clam shells. Those who are interested in reducing plastic waste, should avoid buying these and find a source of cucumbers sold by the unit.

Photo: Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's packaging

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Catherine Homsey of San Francisco used to shop at Trader Joe's weekly for the affordable prices and large organic selection, but she hasn't stepped foot in the store in six years for one reason: What she feels is an overuse of packaging.

"The packaging is so overwhelming and you can't get away from it," says Homsey, who started a business called Joy of Zero Waste a year ago to help SF residents redpuce consumption. "So much is sold in those plastic clam shells. After learning stuff doesn't really get recycled, I thought I better not shop there."

TJs, as it's called by fans, is well-loved for its fair pricing and unusual products—things like cookie butter, cauliflower gnocchi and organic Teriyaki seaweed snacks. But the chain based in Monrovia, Calif., is beginning to get a bad rap for its packaging and some consumers feel the company uses more than necessary, especially with produce. This sentiment is being heard loudly in a recent petition on Change.org that's going viral, garnering more than 66,000 signatures as of Wednesday, asking the company to reduce waste.

A lot of the packaging in Trader Joe's resembles what you find in other grocery store chains: yogurt in plastic tubs, milk in plastic bottles and meat wrapped in plastic. Although at Whole Foods in particular and smaller grocery stores some of these items are also offered in alternative packaging that biodegrades more quickly or is more easily recycled: milk is sold in cartons and yogurt, even ice cream, in glass jars.

"The truth is we have a plastic problem at all markets, including Whole Foods and Safeway. We need a systems shift away from single-use plastic and toward systems of reuse," says Dianna Cohen, the CEO of Berkeley, Calif.-based group Plastic Pollution Coalition. "In my 30 years of shopping at Trader Joes I've seen a shift from using glass for juices and other products to plastic."

Consumers seem to agree it's in the produce section where most of these other products are being sold in plastic, more so than other grocers.

In a message on sustainability on its website, Trader Joe's says more than 50 percent of its produce is sold without packaging, and you can buy bananas, onions, bell peppers, avocados, apples, kiwi by the unit. The company also says it's working on switching to biodegradable produce bags.

Many of these fruits and vegetables are also available conveniently bundled in plastic boxes, bags and wrap, and sometimes spread across trays. Avocados, garlic and oranges are grouped in plastic netting that's not recyclable in most cities, including San Francisco.

"I don't think it's much of a question, really," says S.F. resident Samantha Schoech. "Obviously they overuse plastic for produce. I can't buy it there at all."

"I don't shop there often because of the packaged produce," shares Lois Hoganes of S.F. "Maybe once every four to six months for items other than produce."

GALLERY: Trader Joe's vs. Whole Foods price comparison

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Whole Foods vs. Trader Joe's: August 2017 price comparison

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The packaging helps Trader Joe's efficiently pack and transport food. In some cases, such as with vacuum-packed meat, it can extend the life of a product and reduce food waste. This all saves the stores and customers money. True, grocery items can be more affordable at TJs. A 16-ounce clam shell of organic Persian cucumbers is $2.49, while you might pay nearly twice that for the same amount at Whole Foods. But not all customers are lured by the enticing pricing.

"I hate all the plastic packaging. I end up piecing together our week's groceries from a few different sources because of this," says Jay Jay of S.F. "It is such a shame that it takes more time to avoid so much plastic than to just buy it, save time and kill the earth."

Change.org spokesperson Michael Jones says the petition is either the second or third most-signed targeted at Trader Joe's. A 2015 petition asking TJs to stop selling farm produced eggs garnered more than 102,000 signatures and led the company to sell only 100-percent cage-free eggs.

"Trader Joe's is a frequent target of petitions," says Jones. "People often start them asking the company to open a store in their community. This is one of the first that has gained traction that is focused on food packaging."

Jones sees the petition as an extension of a new movement demanding corporate America to do more to curb corporate waste. Over the summer, he says there were 50 petitions focused on plastic straws.

Elsa Clements of Portland, Ore., is the one who started the petition and she says her goal is to present 100,000 signatures to Trader Joe's.

"A lot of that packaging is going straight to the landfill," says Clements, who helps lead the Green Team at Keen Footwear that encourages its employees to live sustainably. "I think we need to think more about reducing than recycling."

A common argument in favor of packaging is that it's recyclable, and a lot of Trader Joe's packaging is marked as so. But an overwhelming amount of the plastic produced throughout the world goes unrecycled, and with China tightening its rules on the products it accepts, recycling companies are scrambling to find new markets for their reclaimed refuse. More plastic is headed for landfills, and a 2017 study found that of all the plastic ever created, only nine percent has been recycled.

"Recycling doesn't work unless there's infrastructure to recycle it," says Cohen of the Plastic Pollution Coalition. "Recycling is a nice idea and I don't want to dissuade people who live in a place with infrastructure to not do it, but it's better to just stop using plastic. Businesses needs to seriously step up their game and if they don't we're all going to be living in a giant plastic heap."

Cohen grew up in Southern California, where the first Trader Joe's stores opened in the 70s, and she remembers shopping there when all the juices were in glass bottles.

"It's when they switched most of the juice from glass to plastic bottles that I stopped going regularly," Cohen says. "I find even though there's one in my neighborhood I only go to buy a few things. I still buy a cherry juice there because it's still in glass. And I buy Dr. Bronner's soap because it's wrapped in paper, and the black bean dip that comes in glass. Literally, I can count in one hand the products I'm able to still buy there."

SFGATE reached out to Trader Joe's for comment on this story and didn't receive a response.

Follow Amy Graff on Facebook and send her story ideas to agraff@sfchronicle.com.

Trader Joe's Persian cucumbers are sold in plastic clam shells. Those who are interested in reducing plastic waste, should avoid buying these and find a source of cucumbers sold by the unit.

Trader Joe's Persian cucumbers are sold in plastic clam shells. Those who are interested in reducing plastic waste, should avoid buying these and find a source of cucumbers sold by the unit.

Photo: Trader Joe's

Photo: Trader Joe's

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Trader Joe's Persian cucumbers are sold in plastic clam shells. Those who are interested in reducing plastic waste, should avoid buying these and find a source of cucumbers sold by the unit.

Trader Joe's Persian cucumbers are sold in plastic clam shells. Those who are interested in reducing plastic waste, should avoid buying these and find a source of cucumbers sold by the unit.